If you drink more water, you lose more weight. It’s a fact.
Of course, this doesn’t work if you’re stuffing yourself with unhealthy foods. But, if you have a healthy diet and you drink the optimal amount of water per day (we’ll get to that in a minute), you will lose more weight than if your body is in a state of perpetual dehydration.
You may think that filling up on water will make you bloated, but actually, the opposite is true. You need more water to flush out the salt and other real culprits of the puffiness!
Drinking Water – How It Works
There are many, many ways that drinking water is vital for weight loss, including the following:
1. Avoid Dehydration
When you start to lose weight due to fitness and dietary changes, that initial scale movement is usually water loss. You need to drink more water to avoid becoming dehydrated.
2. Fiber Flush
A healthy diet involves eating a lot of fiber. When you bulk up your fiber intake without adding more water, you basically create glue. You will be miserably constipated – so drink up!
3. It Helps the Burn
When you’re trying to lose excess fat from your frame, you need a steady supply of water to help the calorie burn. If you’re dehydrated, your fat stores will also burn more slowly.
4. Muscle Tone
You need water to help your muscles contract. Adequate water intake will help to prevent muscle soreness while you’re working out.
5. Fill ‘er up!
Sometimes when you think you’re hungry between meals, you might actually be thirsty. Drinking a glass of water will let you know if it’s really food you need, or if the water will do. It’s tough for your body to determine if it’s thirsty or hungry – the signal it sends for hunger is very similar to the one it uses for thirst.
6. Metabolism Boost
Your body needs water to help all of the chemical reactions in your body run smoothly.
7. Toxin Sweep
When you burn calories, you end up with toxins floating around your body. Water helps to flush those out.
How Much Water Do You Need to Drink?
The amount of water you need isn’t quite as simple as the “eight glasses per day” prescription that we hear time and time again.
It really depends on how much you weigh, how active you are, how many water-dense fruits and vegetables you eat, and what sort of environment you live in.
But, as a general rule, you should drink an ounce of water for each pound you weigh. Every day.
Hence if you weigh 150 pounds, you ought to drink 150 ounces of water per day. If you’re very active, drink more. If you live in a drier climate, drink even more! (Note: The average drinking glass holds 8 ounces.)
An excellent way to know if you’re drinking enough water is to check your urine. If you’re well hydrated, your urine will be clear and will have very little odor. Dark urine with a strong smell indicates that you are dehydrated.
Tips to Increase Water Intake
So that’s all fine and good, but how do you find time to get in that much water? First of all, don’t drink it all at once or you’ll float away! Try to drink water in smaller amounts all throughout the day.
Before you reach for a coffee or eat your breakfast in the morning, have a couple of glasses (preferably big ones) of water. Then, drink a big glass of water before lunch and another glass of water after. Drink some through the afternoon, before dinner and again after dinner.
It’s a good idea to get all that water in before bedtime, or you might have an uncomfortable night’s sleep!
